AI Investment Fears Spread, Sending Semiconductor Stocks Tumbling Across the New York Stock Market

[Financial News, New York = Lee Byung-chul, Reporter]The New York stock market opened lower on the 28th, led by semiconductor stocks. A wave of selling in artificial intelligence (AI)-related shares that began in Asian markets spread through Europe and into the United States. Market watchers say uncertainty over the AI investment cycle is deepening as questions about profitability and concerns that memory prices may have already peaked add to the impact of rising AI spending by U.S. tech giants.
In New York trading that day, NVIDIA fell 1% in early trading, while Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) dropped 8% and Intel plunged 6%. Memory maker Micron fell 10%, SanDisk slid 17%, and Seagate and Western Digital each lost around 14%.
The sell-off began earlier in Asian markets.
In South Korea, SK hynix plunged 14.65%, and Samsung Electronics also fell more than 13%. Shares tied to the AI supply chain, including Samsung SDI (-11.37%), LG Innotek (-16.29%), Seoul Semiconductor (-8.78%), and LG Chem (-7.5%), also dropped sharply across the board.
In Japan, Tokyo Electron fell 10.96%, Advantest dropped more than 10%, and SoftBank Group, which holds a stake in ARM, declined 4.43%. Memory maker KIOXIA plunged more than 18%.
TSMC in Taiwan fell about 3%, while China's ChiNext 300 Index dropped 6.49% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng China Semiconductor Index fell 7.02%.
Semiconductor stocks also weakened in Europe. ASML extended its losses after reports that a Chinese company is developing immersion deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography equipment. ASM International and BE Semiconductor were also down 2% to 3% in early trading.
Experts pointed to uncertainty surrounding the AI investment cycle as the main reason for the sharp decline.
Owen Lamont, senior vice president at Arcadian Asset Management, told CNBC, "The market is facing enormous uncertainty right now," adding, "No one is sure how AI will affect the economy. Volatility is likely to continue for the time being."
He said the sharp swings in SK hynix's share price are a clear example of market uncertainty over the AI investment cycle. He also noted that leveraged ETFs in South Korea, Hong Kong, and the United States are adding to market volatility.
Sundip Gantori, chief investment officer for equities at Standard Chartered, said recent reports of advances in China's memory semiconductor and lithography equipment technologies have dampened investor sentiment. He also said some brokerage forecasts that memory prices may have peaked have weighed on South Korean semiconductor stocks.



[email protected] Reporter Lee Byung-chul Reporter